


Looking back

by rowhibbler



Category: Mattex - Fandom
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-05
Updated: 2016-03-05
Packaged: 2018-05-24 22:33:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6169219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rowhibbler/pseuds/rowhibbler
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Whilst on a plane to LA, Matt starts looking back on his relationship with Alex, as he prepares to ask her a very important question. This is my first fanfic, so be nice. Unbeta'd so sorry for an mistakes!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Looking back

It made a change to escape the rain and cold that was so typical of British weather, and head to LA for a change. Sun, sea, sex…. Alex…. It was just what the Doctor ordered Matt thought to himself as he looked out of the window flying high in the sky. Looking down over the ocean, he started to ponder his life, and how wonderful it was at the moment. He had an amazing job, great friends, loving family and the most beautiful, gorgeous, funny, caring, loving, kind hearted girlfriend that he could ever have imagined. How had he managed to persuade the irresistible Alex Kingston to date him?!?  
At that first read through, he knew within 5 minutes that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. It took Alex 6 months to admit to herself that she loved him. She told herself it was just a silly, school girl crush, she was nearly 50 years old, and she fancied the pants off a boy in his 20’s. It must be my hormones, she tried kidding herself. It was only when she had the flu and he refused to leave her side for a second that she realised. She was so grumpy that week, her nose was red, she tried shouting at him, but couldn’t because her throat was so sore, she was sick several times, and spent the rest of the time sleeping, but he was there. He took her home from set when she was too ill to work, he passed her tissues, held her hair back, stroked her back, tucked her into bed, made her endless cups of tea, cooked her soup, tidied her house, and wouldn’t leave her side all week. It was when he was held her hair back, rubbing her back as she was throwing up at 3am telling her it would all be ok that she realised she loved him, and maybe he loved her, Alex knew that Matt was an extremely caring man, but you wouldn’t look after someone like this unless you cared really deeply about them, surely?!?  
Three weeks later, Alex was better and had been for a while, but Matt hadn’t left. Neither one wanted to mention it, they had just fallen into a routine. When they came back from work, she would cook dinner, Matt would tidy up, then they would eat and watch TV, run lines, have a catch up. It scared them both how natural it felt. There should have been some awkwardness, but as they sat on the sofa on a Friday evening, Matt’s arm around Alex’s shoulder, her arm around his waist, it felt like this is how they should always be. Without thinking, Alex lifted her head from his chest, as though they had been communicating psychically, Matt cupped her face with his hand and lifted her chin, slowly twisting around so he could look her in the eyes. She licked her lips, and slowly he leant in. The moment their lips touched, fireworks went off in both of them. The kiss was chaste, Alex pulled back first, and after looking into his eyes, she could see that he was feeling everything that she was. Before they knew it, they were kissing again, this time much more passionate, teeth clashing, tongues wrestling with each other. Matt hands were clinging onto Alex’s hair for dear life, her hands were snaked around his neck, before breaking the kiss, grabbing his hand and leading him to her bedroom. Clothes were off within seconds, as they settled down on Alex’s bed. Matt lay on top of her, his hips resting between her legs. He gingerly traced a thumb down her cheek, pressing a tender kiss to her lips. “I love you.” he whispered as he pulled back, as he noticed a stray tear fall down her face. “I love you too” came her quiet reply, pulling him down for another kiss. They made love until the early hours of the morning, until they fell asleep, sated and curled around each other.  
Still on the plane, eager to see his love again, he thought back to the day they announced to everyone that they were together, smiling at the memory of everyone’s reactions, how funny him and Alex had thought it.   
They had got together during filming for The Pandorica Opens, keeping it secret for as long as possible. Everything was wonderful, but they didn’t want to come out in case they either jinxed it, or things just didn’t work out. It was during filming for Let’s Kill Hitler that they were outed though. They’d managed to date for just over a year on the quiet, which is 11 months and 29 days longer than they thought they would manage. No one seemed to notice the slightly longer hugs between the two, the finger grazes, the kisses on the cheek that were slightly closer to the mouth than they should be for people who were just friends. No one mentioned anything at least. Even when Karen spotted Matt leaving Alex’s flat at 5am one morning, he claimed they had been drinking and he just crashed on the sofa, luckily Karen was more concerned with why they hadn’t invited her out drinking with them than why he was standing outside Alex’s flat at 5am in his boxers. It was the kiss that did it. The first kiss, where River poisons the Doctor was easy, quick and simple. It was the second one that told everyone that something was going on. It was too much, they couldn’t stop themselves. As Matt lay up against the steps, Alex leant down to kiss him, first take was fine, second one too, and even the third. By the fourth take, Matt couldn’t contain himself any more, and was starting to get a little bit turned on. Alex hadn’t noticed that her top had slid down, giving Matt a rather nice view in his opinion, as she leant across and started to kiss him, she could feel his growing excitement against her thigh, and instinctively deepened the kiss, instantly they both forgot about their co-stars and all of the crew watching. Matt reached his tongue out, licking Alex’s lips as she opened them, granting him permission to enter her mouth. She didn’t even realise that she had at some point started to straddle him. It was suddenly all over when they heard the director yell “CUT!” “What the flaming hell was that? We can’t show that on a family programme! What were you two thinking of?!?” He shouted as he made his way across the set. Alex and Matt looked at each other, then glanced up to see the faces of everyone else in the room. Poor Arthur looked a bit traumatised, Karen was struggling to contain her blushing, Steven looked like he was about to burst into fits of giggles before he chirped up. “I think, our two star crossed lovers have finally realised they actually like each other. Who had this date as when this would happen on the betting?” Alex blushed bright red, and dropped her head to Matt’s chest, before they both started giggling like school girls. “Sweetie, should we tell them?” she finally said as she pulled him up so they sat next to each other. “Maybe it’s time” he admitted, as he held onto her hand. “We’ve been dating for a while” Matt announced to the room, as he pressed a kiss to Alex’s temple. “A year, actually.” Alex reminded him. Everyone in the room was dumbfounded, none of them had a clue, they were obviously very good actors. The reaction was priceless, Steven declared that he had plenty of new ideas for things that could happen between the two of them, Karen then took the traumatised look as she recalled the 5am boxer incident as it suddenly made sense to her, Matt gave her an apologetic look for that, but everyone was thrilled for them. “Hang on, did you say you were taking bets on when we would get together?!?” Alex asked, looking shocked. Everyone at that point looked either at the ground or the ceiling, both of which were obviously fascinating things. “Who won?” Matt asked. It was Arthur.  
He looked at his watch. By his estimate he still had another 7 hours before the plane landed. Drifting back into his day dream, he recalled when they moved in together, officially.   
A few of Matt’s belongings had stayed at Alex’s since he had looked after her when she was ill. Just a couple of shirts, a book, deodorant, nothing too major. Then gradually a few more items found there way into her house. Gradually, he ended up taking over a drawer in her bedroom, before he got his own closet space. Then his favourite mug was in the kitchen, his shoes were on the rack, and a photo of him and his mum was on the mantelpiece, taken on his first day on set. Neither noticed at first, they weren’t even sure how all of these things found there way there. It was Karen of course who noticed. “So… do you two live together now?” she enquired one night as they sat around running lines for the Wedding of River Song after she had noticed several of Matt’s possessions in the room. “Errr….” Matt started, “Well….” Alex continued. “I’ll take that as a yes then.” Karen answered, with that she grabbed her script and flounced out of the house. “I suppose we do, when’s the last time you slept at your flat? It must have been at least a month.” Alex asked. Without talking much more, Matt handed in his notice to his landlord the next morning, moving the rest of his stuff in with Alex that afternoon. Alex added his name to the agreements on her place the day after.  
5 hours left on the plane, and Matt missed Alex like mad. He hadn’t seen her for 5 weeks, she had to go to LA to visit Salome, he had to stay in Cardiff to start filming on series 7. It had been the longest time they had been apart, but thanks to the San Diego Comic Con, they would see each other in just a few short hours. He thought about the special possession that was currently burning a hole in his pocket. He reached in and pulled out the small, blue velvet box. Opening it slowly, the diamond ring inside it caught the sunlight from the window. He thought about the last time he had seen her.  
She was crying. He hated to see her sad, but she hadn’t seen her daughter in so long, she had to go. Leaving Matt was always hard, but somehow they had always found a way to make sure they saw each other at least every fortnight. This time, it would be for 5 weeks. They had said their goodbyes at the house, not wanting to make a scene in the middle of Heathrow airport, but that didn’t make this any easier. Tears rolled down Alex’s cheeks as she declared her love for him, holding onto him as though it may be the last time she ever saw him. He held her face, rubbing the tears away, promising that they would see each other soon, and they would talk, and text and skype each other every day, and that one day they would never have to leave each other for so long again. It hurt both of them, but it would only be a few weeks. As he watched her walk away from him towards the check in desk, he knew in that moment what he needed to do. He drove to Cardiff as quickly as he could, the two hour drive seeming to take 4 or 5 times as long. He parked up and ran into the Jewellers shop in Castle Arcade. Alex loved this shop, stopping to look in the window everytime they walked past. He made a beeline for the engagement rings, bewildered at the choice, but then he saw it. A thin silver band, with a large round cut diamond in the centre, either side of it a smaller Tardis blue sapphire. It was perfect. Without even glancing at any other rings he brought it, making quite a sizeable dent in his bank account, but knowing it was worth every penny. He spent that evening staring at his purchase, sitting in the matching Tardis blue box, wondering how best to ask. The next day, he made the drive down to Surrey, he had to ask her parents first.  
He was snapped out of his dozing by some turbulence, the plane shaking violently. He hated this, and started thinking about when they went public with their relationship to distract him.   
It was at the special screening for the Wedding of River Song. The BBC had laid on a screening event for the press and a few lucky fans, with a cast Q&A and a party afterwards. They deliberately avoided each other as much as they could, not wanting to give anything away, they thought they were out of sight after the screening just before they did a Q&A. Sneaking a quick kiss before they headed up on stage, the compere announced Matt’s name, but before he had time to break the kiss, the spotlight was on them. Neither noticed, too absorbed in the kiss. The screams of the fans, the shouts from the press and the flashing lights from the cameras alerted them to the fact that they had been spotted. A quick glance between them told Matt all he needed to know. He grabbed her hand and walked with her on stage, tucking her chair under her as she sat, and gave her a kiss on the cheek. He then moved his chair closer to hers, and kept his arm around her waist through the whole session. Unsurprisingly the first question they were asked was how long they had been together. Matt answered first, “I have been lucky enough to have been with Alex for the last 2 and a half years. I’m sure you are all excited/intrigued/angry or whatever you feel about this, but we would like to continue our relationship in peace as we have for the last couple of years, and we will not be answering any more questions about it tonight.” Alex’s heart swelled with the pride she currently felt for Matt, giving his free hand a squeeze in acknowledgement. They were front page news the next day, most was positive. There were the odd cougar/toy boy comments, but most seemed to be along the lines of fiction becoming reality. The press even granted their request for privacy, they weren’t bothered any more than they had been before it went public.  
He spotted her as soon as he walked through arrivals. Her hair made her stand out from a million miles. They ran to each other as if they had been separated for a lifetime, whispering sweet nothings into each others ears before leaning in for a searing kiss, filled with all the passion they had felt for the last 5 weeks. Neither left the bed except to go to the toilet or to get food for the next 48 hours.  
They made their way to San Diego 3 days later, the ring still tucked away in Matt’s luggage, if Alex had noticed his nerves, she hadn’t mentioned it. It would be the first time Team Tardis had been together for weeks, the girls both screaming as they saw each other again. Hugs and kisses aside, it was time to head on stage for the Q&A panel. Matt and Alex both loved doing the panels, it was a chance to get to know the fans, and for them to know the actors, as long as they were careful with their answers not to give too much away. Halfway through, they got the inevitable question about their relationship, and how it was mirrored in the show. Alex started to answer, saying there weren’t many similarities, but they did love each other just as much as the Doctor and River did. Matt then jumped in.  
“There is one big difference I think between our relationship and theirs. In the last episode you saw as together in, River and the Doctor got married, and we aren’t!” Alex laughed, “True, we aren’t married like they are.”  
Matt then stood up, pulling Alex up with him and holding her hands in front of him.  
“But, I’ve been doing some thinking the last 5 weeks since I last saw you, and I realised that I can’t let you die, without knowing you are loved. By so many, and so much, and by no one more than me.” The fans awwwed at the use of a quote from the show, as Alex started tearing up. “I love you too sweetie.” She replied, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek.  
“I hope you trust me, and that I am forgiven for this.”  
“I have no idea what you are on about, but I forgive you, you are always and completely forgiven.” Then he got down on one knee, the audience fell silent as Alex gasped, realising what he was about to do.   
“Alex, I love you. Since that first read through when I spilt coffee in your lap, when I held your hair back a few weeks later when you were ill, even when you had to slap me over and over again in that diner.” Alex laughed again before he continued.  
“When I had to leave you at Heathrow 5 weeks ago, I couldn’t bear to leave you crying like that ever again, and in that moment, I knew what I had to do. When you’re a kid, they tell you it’s all… grow up. Get a job. Get married. Get a house. Have a kid, that’s it. But the truth is, the world is so much stranger than that. It’s so much darker, and so much madder. And so much better. When I fell in love with you, it suddenly all made sense, yes the world is dark, and mad, but with you, it doesn’t matter, if you are happy, then I’m happy. They say that every life is a pile of good things and bad things. The good things don’t always soften the bad things, but vice versa, the bad things don’t always spoil the good things and make them unimportant. I want to spend the rest of my life filling your life with good things, so that, when the bad things do come, they won’t be spoilt. Not all things end, not love, not always. And I want to love you until the end, if you will let me. This is one corner, of one country, on one continent, on one planet. That’s a corner of a galaxy, that’s a corner of a universe that’s forever growing and shrinking and creating and destroying, never remaining the same for a single millisecond, and there is so much to see, and I want to see it all with you by my side. For some people, small, beautiful events are what life is all about, I want this to be a beautiful event for you, I want this to be the start of our life together, forever. So, all that being said…. Alexandra Elizabeth Kingston, will you marry me?” And with that, he opened the box to reveal the diamond and sapphire ring. It was so silent in the auditorium you could have heard a pin drop. Alex was stunned. She had no idea that he could be so romantic.  
“Oh my god…. Matt…. YES!” The audience went mad, Karen, Arthur and Steven all started jumping up and down for them.   
“Really? You will marry me?”  
“After that speech, of course I will you idiot! I love you!” She cried, tears openly running down her face now, as she pulled him in for a passionate kiss. He held her left hand out, and slowly took the ring from the box, and slid it onto her fourth finger.  
“It’s beautiful Matt, Tardis blue too.” she noticed.  
“Just like you”  
She went in to kiss him again before pulling back, “Wait, did you just say I’m Tardis blue?”  
“What? No! It’s beautiful like you!” and they kissed again. When they broke apart, Matt too was crying, neither had ever been this happy before.   
Alex held her hand up for the audience to see, then showed Karen, Arthur and Steven. With that, Steven announced that Matt and Alex would be leaving the panel at that moment, deciding that they needed some time alone, which they eagerly agreed to, before running out of the room hand in hand towards their hotel across the street.  
10 months later, Matt stood at the altar. He nervously fiddled with his bow tie, blue of course, waiting for Alex to arrive. A couple of minutes later, he saw Salome walk through the door, in a Tardis blue dress, followed by Alex’s best friend Jen, sister Nicola, Karen, and then Matt’s sister Laura, all wearing the same dress. Then, he heard the music that announced the arrival of the bride. She was, without a doubt, the most beautiful woman on the planet that that moment. Her hair was up, with just a few wisps framing her face, her make up was simple from what he could tell, but it was covered with her veil. The dress was form fitting, covered in lace at the top, with full length sleeves. It showed every single one of her curves off perfectly. The material stayed tight until her thighs, where it started hanging loosely. In her hands was a bouquet of royal blue roses, mixed with blue and white lillies, and when she walked, you could just see the blue heels sneak out from under her dress. When she finally made it to the altar, she left her father with a kiss on the cheek, smiled to Matt and then turned to the vicar, they both were happier than ever.  
“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today….”


End file.
